Opinion
No. 06-5117.
Submitted: February 22, 2007.
Decided: February 28, 2007.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Durham. N. Carlton Tilley, Jr., District Judge. (1:06-cr-00078-NCT).
Louis C. Allen, III, Federal Public Defender, William C. Ingram, Jr., First Assistant Federal Public Defender, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellant. Anna Mills Wagoner, United States Attorney, Lisa B. Boggs, Assistant United States Attorney, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellee.
Before WILLIAMS, MOTZ, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished PER CURIAM opinion.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
Darren Lamont Dennis pled guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) (2000), and was sentenced as an armed career criminal to the mandatory minimum sentence of 180 months imprisonment. 18 U.S.C.A. § 924(e) (West 2000 Supp. 2006). Dennis appeals his sentence, arguing that his sentence violates the Fifth and Sixth Amendments because the fact that his predicate prior convictions were committed on different occasions was not charged in the indictment or admitted by him. We affirm.
As Dennis acknowledges, the issue he raises is foreclosed by our decision in United States v. Thompson, 421 F.3d 278, 285-87 (4th Cir. 2005) (holding that the nature and occasion of prior offenses are facts inherent in the convictions, which government is not required to allege in the indictment or prove beyond a reasonable doubt), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 126 S.Ct. 1463, 164 L.Ed.2d 250 (2006). We therefore affirm the sentence imposed by the district court. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED.